Drink spiking set to be outlawed

Page Tools

A separate law against drink spiking may be introduced following
evidence up to 4,000 drinks were tampered with over a one-year
period in Australia.

A survey found that around one-third of drink spiking incidents
ended in sexual assault and one in 20 in robbery.

Only one in six incidents are reported to police, and there were
between 3,000 and 4,000 reported drink spiking incidents over the
one-year period, according to the report prepared by the Australian
Institute of Criminology (AIC).

Four out of five victims are women, mostly under the age of
24.
``The findings of this report are a sobering reminder for all
Australians that drink spiking is not a harmless prank or a benign
act of mischief,'' Justice Minister Chris Ellison at the release of
the report's findings.

Senator Ellison said while sexual assault and drink spiking with
intent to harm were illegal, the act of drink spiking itself needs
to be outlawed.

He said he would be asking government officials across
jurisdictions to examine ways in which legislation could be
improved and strengthened.

``I think what we have to look at is the fact that spiking a
person's drink is actually a criminal act,'' said Senator
Ellison.

``So what we would want to look at is the actual act of spiking
a person's drink as illegal in itself rather than just the
ramifications of it being illegal.

``In a serious instance a jail term, particularly for a serial
offender, would not be inappropriate.''

The report is based on data collected by the AIC from police,
sexual assault agencies, hospitals and forensic scientists.

A hotline in which people phoned in their drink spiking
experiences was also used to collect data.

Senator Ellison said drink spiking was all the more insidious
because it was under-reported.

``A major concern is the link to violent acts and while one
third of these incidents lead to sexual assault, less than one
sixth of suspected drink spiking sexual assaults are actually
reported to police,'' he said.

``The findings of this report clearly show that more people need
to be made aware of drink spiking and how it can be avoided.''

Most drinks were spiked with drugs such as gammahydroxybutyrate
(GHB) and ketamine.

Meanwhile, in Britain, new techniques are being developed to
halt what's claimed to be an epidemic of drink spiking.

An inventor has come up with a brightly coloured stopper to
prevent drugs like Rohypnol and GHB being placed in bottled
drinks.

According to inventor Ray Lockett, the low-density polythene
device nicknamed Spikey fits neatly into the necks of bottles,
blocking the top of each drink so it cannot be surreptitiously
spiked.

Once there, the stopper cannot be removed, with room only for a
straw to fit through, and will glow in UV light.